Warped
by Eowyn77
Summary: Felix's ruminations in both Volterra and Washington.  The first chapter was for SillyBella's July Volturi POV challenge.
1. The HumanLover

Master Aro beckoned me closer and took my cloak – _my _cloak – to bestow upon Edward Cullen, a human-lover. I repressed a snarl with difficulty. It was revolting and unnatural to lust after a creature from a different species. Crazy Carlisle taught his children to love humans, and this was the natural result. Edward was _attracted _to her. You could see it in the way he touched her, the way he gazed at her. He wanted to have _relations _with his domesticated human. Disgusting.

I still remembered Carlisle, of course, and I had thought little of him at the time. An eccentric. If he wanted to starve for eternity, it was his business, but he had the bald audacity to preach his own brand of insanity to the Volturi. It was fortunate for Carlisle that Master Aro found him amusing. The guard did not.

Carlisle Cullen. The last name had always irritated me. No vampire had a family name except the Volturi themselves. It was as though Carlisle was putting on airs, pretending to be their equal. Master Aro refused to see him as a threat even when I warned him, assuring me that Carlisle would never find other vampires unbalanced enough to follow him. As always, the Master was right, but Carlisle found a way to build his empire anyway. He elevated humans himself and nursed them on the unwholesome blood of animals. Carlisle starved his own children.

And now here was his offspring, another Cullen, even more sick and twisted than the first. Like Master Aro, I never thought I'd see a vampire outdo Carlisle, but the proof was standing in front of me. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have never believed it. Edward was thirstier than I've ever been in my entire existence, and he just cuddled his pet human like she was his mate. And she was his _singer_, no less.

Human-lover Edward refused to drink her – refused to even _share_ – but at the same time, he didn't want to elevate his domesticated female either. Perhaps he didn't want her to starve for eternity, too. But then, why not just leave the Cullen clan and bring her with him? Master Aro was generous beyond imagining to offer them a place here, yet they haughtily rebuffed him. How could Edward possibly maintain allegiance to a master who warped him so thoroughly?

I could see then the wisdom of the Volturi. We are stronger, swifter, and smarter than the humans. Of course they would love and worship us. After all, look at Gianna. The Volturi have already promised me her blood, and yet she fawns on and serves us. It would be convenient sometimes to have a ready supply of domesticated blood, but meeting Edward has taught me the peril of such an arrangement. A vampire might form an attachment. It was simply immoral, contrary to nature. Far better to live as we were meant to – as hunter and prey.

It was funny to see Edward and that female Alice jump like a couple of frightened children when they heard the humans coming. Heidi had rounded up a better herd than usual – with Americans, no less! The venom dripped from my teeth. Americans ate more meat than most lately, especially the fat ones. I had commented about it to Gianna, and she claimed it was so they could lose weight. I didn't much care about the reason. All I cared about was the result. Delicious!

The Cullens rushed their little pet out of the room, afraid she'd mingle with the rest of the herd, no doubt. Perhaps Master Caius would choose me to hunt them down when the time came. If I worked hard, I might even earn a taste of that female. _If_ I were lucky. I looked at the females who now milled about uncertainly as we surrounded them. Would I ever have an unnatural lust for one of _them_? I took a deep breath, and the humans' scent filled me with a painful longing to drink.

_Never._


	2. Visit

We'd speculated about it, before heading into Cullen territory. I thought that Carlisle would be one of the casualties. He was just too... unbalanced to concern himself with minor details like survival. Jane accused me of being an optimist and said Edward was the one more likely to be a pile of rubble. All that angst had to wear on a body, she said. Demetri said his money was on Carlisle's mate. After meeting Edward, Master Aro had said something about her being a mother for the whole brood. A mother would put her children first. Stood to reason, he declared. We all knew the domesticated human wouldn't be elevated yet, so we didn't even bother to mention her. She was guaranteed to be dead. Too bad, really. Master Caius had already promised her to me.

What none of us were prepared for was to see the _entire_ coven still standing. Even the human, cuddled up with her lover. I could smell the tangy adrenaline mingled with her sweet scent from across the clearing. Intoxicating! When she lifted her eyes to mine, I winked. This was turning out to be far more enjoyable than I had expected.

There was also another girl, a newborn. Carlisle was wrong in the head. Just plain wrong! Offering quarter to a vampire who _attacked_ him? Then it occurred to me; Carlisle, the empire-builder, was adding to his guard. He must have known we would come, but we'd arrived sooner than he'd hoped. He hadn't had a chance to train her or anything. She didn't even _try_ to lie to Jane. I grinned despite myself. Few tried to deceive her; none succeeded.

It was good Jane was with us, or I would never have believed the newborn. An army of eighteen? PLUS their leaders? Against _this_ coven? This group of pacifist, human-hugging, religious nuts? Something was seriously wrong here. It unnerved me, made me edgy. Maybe it was the scent of the place, reeking of battle and that lone human and... something else. Some unpleasant smell danced around the edge of my senses, coming and going with the breeze...

Jane and Carlisle finished negotiating the fate of the newborn, negotiating meaning Carlisle and his coven backed down. Then, Jane addressed the Cullens' pet directly. "Caius will be _so_ interested to hear that you're still human, Bella. Perhaps he'll decide to visit."

"The date is set," that little runt of a seer answered. How in the wide world had she survived? "Perhaps we'll come to visit you in a few months."

The _Cullens_ were going to come visit _us_? Was that supposed to be a threat? The newborn army had been impressive in size, but it was nothing compared to the Guard. With our talent, training, and experience, they couldn't even hope to challenge us, much less succeed.

Then that unfamiliar scent fluttered on the wind again, and I was suddenly unsure. We — especially Master Aro — knew the Cullens, but whatever secret talent or tactic they'd used today was an unknown element. How _had_ they all survived? The human? The only thing we knew about her was that she was an unknown herself. And unknowable. Could some talent of hers have been responsible for this? And how dangerous did that make them?

"Take care of that, Felix," Jane said, her voice carefully bored. "I want to go home."

I'll bet she did. Our espionage assignment had already yielded far more than the Volturi expected. Our Masters would be pleased. Hopefully.

Well, at least _I_ got a little fun out of the trip. And I could still hope for a luscious treat later. 


End file.
